Incorporation of vitamin E and C and ω-3 fatty acids in fresh meat can provide healthier meat for human and extend the shelf life of fresh meat; however, efforts to increase the concentrations of ω-3 fatty acid, α-tocopherol and acetic acid in ruminant meat had limited success because these nutrients undergo ruminal degradation during digestion. Protecting dietary ω-3 fatty acids and vitamin E and C from ruminal degradation by formulating these nutrients within feed supplements and their effects on α-tocopherol and acetic acid contents, and fatty acid compositions in edible tissues of lambs were investigated. Protecting dietary supplements (PDS) containing ω-3 fish oil (140 g/kg) and DL-α-tocopheryl acetate (TOA: 759 mg/kg) with or without L-ascorbic acid (ASC: 784 mg/kg) were prepared with a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) chemical. Twenty-four feeder lambs (BW = 21.3 ± 0.65) were divided into three groups with two pens of four lambs per group, and randomly assigned to one of three dietary treatments, which consisted of corn basal diet (CBD) containing cracked corn and soybean meal, plus TOA and ASC, and 86.7% CBD plus either PDS containing TOA only or TOA and ASC. After a 49-d of feeding trial, lambs were harvested using standard procedures and edible muscle tissues were obtained from each carcass to analyze α-tocopherol and ascorbic acid contents, and fatty acid compositions. Compared with lambs fed a CBD diet, lambs fed both PDS containing diets (TOA only and TOA + ASC) had higher (P &lt; 0.05) concentrations of α-tocopherol (longissimus dorsi or LD, 1.15 vs 2.73 and 3.84 μg/g; psoas major, 1.36 vs 3.57 and 4.34 μg/g; gluteus medius, 1.51 vs 4.18 and 4.50 μg/g) in muscle samples. The concentration of ascorbic acid in LD muscle from lambs fed either CBD or PDS containing TOA + ASC was higher (P &lt; 0.05; 11.7 or 12.1 vs 8.34 μg/g) than that from lambs fed PDS containing TOA only. However, no significant differences were found in the concentration of ascorbic acid in LD muscle from lambs fed either CBD or PDS containing TOA + ASC. Compared with lambs fed CBD, lambs fed either PDS containing TOA or TOA + ASC had higher (P &lt; 0.05) concentrations of eicosapentaenoic (C20:5ω3, 0.24 vs 0.48 or 0.58%) and docosahexaenoic (C22:6ω3, 0.49 vs 0.85 or 1.13%) acids in LD muscle. The results indicate that feeding lambs with the protecting dietary supplements prepared with GRAS chemicals can increase the deposition of α-tocopherols and ω-3 fatty acids in their muscle.

Increasing ω-3 fatty acid, α-tocopherol and acetic acid contents in fresh lamb by feeing entrapped fish oil, DL-α-tocopheryl acetate and L-acetic acid in a chemically treated protein matrix

256th National Meeting (2018)

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